From the World Rally Championship
BP Ford Abu Dhabi team driver Mikko Hirvonen holds the lead of Rally Poland this evening after a day of furious competition on some of the fastest roads in the World Rally Championship.
With only Sunday's final, and shortest, day of the competition to go Hirvonen has a rally lead of 12 seconds over his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
The pair maintained their overnight one-two formation all day today despite a determined challenge from third placed Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo. The Spaniard started the day 28 seconds behind Latvala, but attacked hard in the morning to narrow the gap to 16 seconds by the midpoint service.
In the afternoon, however, the Ford drivers responded with a full speed attack. Making the most of the increased grip available on the rougher, repeated stages, the pair clawed back almost all of the time they lost to Sordo earlier on.
With only five stages and 89 competitive kilometres remaining on Sunday, Hirvonen remains on course to take the lead of the FIA championship for drivers' from Sebastien Loeb who is 13th overall, but more than 19 minutes behind, after crashing on Friday.
More than a minute behind the leading trio, another three-way battled raged throughout the day for fourth place. Petter Solberg (Citroen Xsara) started the day fourth, with his brother Henning (Ford Focus) fifth and Sebastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) sixth. But with only 12.3 seconds covering all three places, the fur was flying right from today's opening stage.
By the midpoint service Ogier had leapfrogged the brothers into fourth place, while Henning had moved ahead of Petter. The Citroen Junior team driver held onto the position in the afternoon - just - while Petter wrestled fifth back from Henning on the day's final stage. The three will start Sunday's competition separated by only 8.4 seconds.
BP Ford Abu Dhabi team driver Mikko Hirvonen holds the lead of Rally Poland this evening after a day of furious competition on some of the fastest roads in the World Rally Championship.
With only Sunday's final, and shortest, day of the competition to go Hirvonen has a rally lead of 12 seconds over his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
The pair maintained their overnight one-two formation all day today despite a determined challenge from third placed Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo. The Spaniard started the day 28 seconds behind Latvala, but attacked hard in the morning to narrow the gap to 16 seconds by the midpoint service.
In the afternoon, however, the Ford drivers responded with a full speed attack. Making the most of the increased grip available on the rougher, repeated stages, the pair clawed back almost all of the time they lost to Sordo earlier on.
With only five stages and 89 competitive kilometres remaining on Sunday, Hirvonen remains on course to take the lead of the FIA championship for drivers' from Sebastien Loeb who is 13th overall, but more than 19 minutes behind, after crashing on Friday.
More than a minute behind the leading trio, another three-way battled raged throughout the day for fourth place. Petter Solberg (Citroen Xsara) started the day fourth, with his brother Henning (Ford Focus) fifth and Sebastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) sixth. But with only 12.3 seconds covering all three places, the fur was flying right from today's opening stage.
By the midpoint service Ogier had leapfrogged the brothers into fourth place, while Henning had moved ahead of Petter. The Citroen Junior team driver held onto the position in the afternoon - just - while Petter wrestled fifth back from Henning on the day's final stage. The three will start Sunday's competition separated by only 8.4 seconds.